caer 
late Se RE, A Oe ee 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
AND REMINDER 
Vol. XII 
Manchester, Mass., Friday, June 25 
No. 26 
The Guardians of the Shore 
By HELENE SHERMAN 
HERE are along our Shore, adding to the beauty of 
the sea-view as well as to the safety of the ships, 
many stately light-houses keeping guard during the long 
night watches. In the history of any sea-faring people 
there must be much sorrow and tragedy, and the North 
Shore has not been exempt from this rule. There is 
hardly a light or a beacon or a buoy or a fog bell that 
is not sending its warning signals forth over scenes of 
wreck and woe, enacted in the long-ago days when boats 
were crude, and brave men wrung their scanty living 
from the sea. 
Leaving the Marblehead light, which has not been 
of as much importance as the others, we see the lights of 
Baker’s Island sending their steadfast rays over the dif- 
ficult passageway where so many brave seamen have been 
lost. It was in February of the year, 1793, that a peti- 
‘tion was sent to Senator Cabot and to Representative 
Goodhue, signed by members of the Salem Marine So- 
ciety begging that a much-needed light be set up at 
Baker’s Island for the following reasons: “That said 
Salem lies at the Bottom of a small Bay, with the Har- 
bours of Marblehead and Beverly on each side, between 
which Harbours and the Ocean, there are a number of 
small islands or rocks, and a large island, called Baker’s 
Island; that without and at each end of said Island, are 
many sunken breakers or shoals; that the only channel 
for large vessels is at the northern end of that Is- 
BAH Gch s cs that a Light House on Baker’s Island has 
been long desired, and the want of it has often proved 
fatal to many Citizens of the United States, and has oc- 
casioned the loss of large property;...... that the said 
BOCietys. s,s. did about two years past, for the purpose 
of rendering the navigation along these shores more safe 
and easy, and at their own expense, erect a beacon at the 
North end of the Baker’s Island,...... and that the said 
beacon is so constructed that, by a small additional ex- 
pense, suitable lights might be added thereto.” . The peti- 
tion was signed by such men as Gen. John Fisk, Joseph 
Hiller, and William Gray, Jr., but as no action was taken 
on it, the Society appointed Gen. Fisk, Col. Benjamin 
Pickman, and Mr. Gray a committee to confer with the 
neighboring towns about the matter. ‘This was in the fa!l 
of 1793, and nothing seems to have been done until 1706, 
when on January 28, a petition, which embraced the 
placing of a light upon Cape Cod as well as upon Baker's 
Island was forwarded to the Hon. Mr. Goodhue, then 
Senator from this state. 
The petition read in part as follows: “We would re- 
mark that the revenue arising from the towns of Salem, 
Marblehead and Beverly, together with the difficulty of 
the entrance into our harbor, authorise us to except that 
‘attention from our Government which we request...... 
»We would further observe that Newburyport have a 
‘Lighthouse granted to them, and we suppose the revenue 
arising from that Port is not more than one quarter of 
that from Salem. 
“We have written to the towns of Marblehead, Bev- 
erly and Manchester, who fully approve of our doings, 
will send on similar petitions.” 
The Memeorial of the Marine Society said on this 
same subject: “Vessels coming from Sea are directed in 
their course by a small light on Thatcher’s Island; after 
passing this, they have as “much as five leagues to run, in 
which they are obliged to pass between Baker’s Island 
and the Misery, ahiere the distance between them is not 
more than three quarters of a mile, and if they happen 
to miss the opening between these Islands, they run upon 
the Breakers and are inevitably lost.” Congress promptly 
granted the request and the lights were erected April 17096. 
In 1816 it was thought advisable to fete A 
single light for the double lights, and the change was 
made with most disastrous results. There is record of 
at least one terrible wreck occasioned by the taking away 
of the double lights. Captain William Osgood in com- 
mand of the ship, “Union,” was returning from a two 
years’ trip to Penang, and ran the vessel on the shoals 
between Baker’s Island and the Miseries in a blinding 
snow storm, mistaking the single Baker’s light for the 
Boston light, as no word of the change had reached him. 
There was almost total loss of cargo and crew. This and 
other like disasters led to the restoration of the double 
lights in 1820 and today “Mr. and Mrs. Baker,” as these 
two important lights are commonly called, guide the ships 
over the treacherous way, and when the keeper cannot 
see the Miseries, or Mystery Isle in modern parlance, 
he sounds the too familiar fog signal known as the 
“Bakers’ Cow.” The view of the Shore from the Light- 
house is well worth a trip to Baker’s Island, and the plac e 
is easier of access than many of the lights because of the 
boats, which make regular trips from the island to Salem 
Willows. 
Near Gloucester and the rest of Cape Ann, there are 
a number of lights of varying importance and interest. 
Besides the light of Ten Pound Island, which is one of 
the oldest along the Shore, having been established in 
1821, there are the Thacher’s Island Lights, situated 
upon a spot of melancholy tradition. It was upon 
Thatcher’s Island that Anthony Thatcher and his wife 
were cast, the sole survivors of the wreck that carried 
Parson Avery to his death. The story has been told by 
many writers but never better than by John Greenleaf 
Whittier in his “The Swan Song.” These lights are 
sometimes called the Twin Lights, and even more often, 
the Cape Lights, and they are situated about two miles 
off the mainland of ts Ann. There are two lights 
about one-third of a mile apart, and bearing south by 
west, and north us ses from each other, and northeast 
from Boston Light nine and a half leagues away. 
Wigwam Point Light, which is situated at the en- 
trance of Annisquam—or Squam—Harbor, is of especial 
importance to those, who get into Ipswich Bay in an 
easterly gale. Squam Harbor is a safe refuge for those 
who know the bar, on which there is 16 or 17 feet at 
high water, and Saquam Light is a splendid guide. The 
lantern, a fixed light, is about forty feet above the sea 
level, and, although it is not one of the large lights, «tt 
may be seen before getting up with the bar unless the 
weather is very thick. 
